Which supplements should I take?There are literally thousands of supplements on the market, one purported to satisfy virtually every human need and desire. Can’t sleep? Google insomnia and see how many supplements are available to help you get to bed. Going bald? Anxious? Overweight? Underweight? Memory problems? Stiff joints? Achy muscles? Depressed? For any human problem there exists a solution in the form a supplement for which there is often no scientific evidence to support the manufacturer’s claim. By contrast, there are a small group of supplements for which adequate research has been conducted demonstrating both safety and efficacy to a sufficient degree to enable doctors to prescribe them. When a supplement has been shown to have clinical efficacy the next criterium I look at is the quality of the product. At our office we use mostly Pure Encapsulations products. In our experience, Pure Encapsulations manufactures the highest quality supplements on the market. They are NSF certified and GMP registered and their products are Pharmaceutical Grade, exceeding the standards of the United States Pharmacopeia (USP). All Pure Encapsulations supplements are manufactured in their own state-of-the-art plant in Massachusetts from the highest quality raw ingredients from the U.S., France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. All ingredients and final products are tested for purity and potency by independent certified laboratories. All capsules are hypoallergenic and vegetarian, and there are no added coatings, binders, shellacs, artificial flavors, sweeteners, colors, fragrance, or excipients. In short, we believe Pure Encapsulations to make the industry’s best products. Which specific supplements should you take? As you will find out in the next section, that depends on you. Keep reading... Before I recommend a supplement to a patient, I ask myself whether or not, in my patient’s situation, taking into account his or her medical condition, health goals, and financial means I would be willing to purchase that supplement for myself. Everyone is a little different and depending on one’s age, gender, lifestyle, medications, and current health status, what I would recommend to one person I might not recommend to another. That being said, there are a few special supplements which play a vital role in anti-aging and health promotion which have wide application. You may use the guidelines in my next post to get an idea of what might be right for you, but it is essential that you speak with your doctor prior to beginning any new therapy, including the handful of supplements which I use and recommend.